I upgraded to this jewel of a camera from a D40 in July of this year. I have taken it with me almost everyday I've had it so I could get to know it in time for the winter bird season.
First thing I liked was the feel of it in the hand. Actually this is when I decided to buy it. I went into a camera store and held it. I didn't buy from that store but ordered from amazon right when I got home.
There are some controls in there that a lot of birders don't take advantage of. This defeats the purpose of this camera. Active D Lighting tames shadows AND highlights which on a birds body shape and the places than hang out, is an indispensable feature that really brings out details. The second is auto ISO can be set in third stop increments. This means that if an exposure needs just a bit more than 400, it will auto adjust to perhaps 550 rather than 800. it just does this intuitively and correctly so you can spend your time taking great shots rather than fussing with controls. Even if those controls are aesy to get to. It takes one second to manually change ISO but only a split second to miss a shot!
The pictures controls, typical of a generation 2 Nikon allow the photographer to give the look to the color of his/her shots that we desire.
I personally use 21 focal points. It fills the center are nicely with a sharp focus, just the area us birders want it. It's almost as if Nikon designed this camera for birders.
If you're thinking about getting it, just do what I did and just buy it. I have not regretted that decision yet and neither will you.
First thing I liked was the feel of it in the hand. Actually this is when I decided to buy it. I went into a camera store and held it. I didn't buy from that store but ordered from amazon right when I got home.
There are some controls in there that a lot of birders don't take advantage of. This defeats the purpose of this camera. Active D Lighting tames shadows AND highlights which on a birds body shape and the places than hang out, is an indispensable feature that really brings out details. The second is auto ISO can be set in third stop increments. This means that if an exposure needs just a bit more than 400, it will auto adjust to perhaps 550 rather than 800. it just does this intuitively and correctly so you can spend your time taking great shots rather than fussing with controls. Even if those controls are aesy to get to. It takes one second to manually change ISO but only a split second to miss a shot!
The pictures controls, typical of a generation 2 Nikon allow the photographer to give the look to the color of his/her shots that we desire.
I personally use 21 focal points. It fills the center are nicely with a sharp focus, just the area us birders want it. It's almost as if Nikon designed this camera for birders.
If you're thinking about getting it, just do what I did and just buy it. I have not regretted that decision yet and neither will you.